A Second Chance // Thorki

Chapter Thirty Three

Thor gave a gentle smile as he stepped in, hands behind his back. He was very obviously hiding something, though Loki dismissed it as a silly gift of some sorts. The door slid closed behind him, and Loki couldn't help but find himself smiling in return. "Good morning, Thor."

"Good morning, Loki."

The thunderer snuck forward, taking a seat on the bed, before bringing around what he'd been hiding from him.

It was an actual bouquet of flowers, one with absolutely vivid colours, tied together by a beautiful golden string.

"Thor, where..." Loki was rather speechless, reaching out to take them gently, carefully, admiring them with wide eyes. "Where did you get these?"

"I was a part of the recovery team for what we left on that planet. I decided it couldn't hurt to pick a few flowers for you." The King couldn't help but grin, scooting forward, taking one of Loki's shaking hands into his own. "It's not much, but it's what I could get."

Loki had always hated flowers, truly- he had allergies, and didn't really like most flowers to begin with, but this- this, he loved. For a different reason, of course.

"You brought me flowers..." Loki practically whispered, looking rather shocked. The man had gone out of his way for these, and found a cute little string to hold them all together. It was the thought that made Loki's eyes glassy and his heart flutter in his chest.

"How have you been faring, Loki?" The King whispered to him, laying down at his side, practically falling off the bed, as he was far too broad to only lay on half. Loki shifted over a bit to give him more space.

"Mm... fairly well, I suppose... Bruce came to see me yesterday."

"Bruce? Bruce Banner?" Thor almost asked in disbelief, tilting his head to look up at the man beside him.

"His full name is Robert Bruce Banner," Loki practically snickered, "Midgardians truly have strange names, don't you think?"

Thor just smiled up at him, reaching upwards to ever so carefully caress his cheek, so very glad that he still had him with him. When he'd seen him collapse, he'd thought he'd lost him for good. Thor doubted he'd ever been as terrified as he had been in that moment. Everyone had rushed towards him, grabbing him by the front and by his shoulders, by his wrist to check his pulse, and Thor had nearly passed out himself, rushing forward through the people to at least hold his hand.

He'd lost him too many times. Losing him again was something Thor wouldn't be able to bear.

Loki shifted a bit so as to lay down beside Thor, somewhat laying on his side with a soft, gentle smile, eyes flickering over his handsome love. They didn't touch, just shared a look, one of pure adoration and care.

"You look like you're on the brink of death." Thor teased, acting wounded when the trickster rather weakly punched him in the shoulder.

"That's because I am, you fool." Loki jokes in return, though his gentle laughing sent him into a rather vicious coughing fit, one that wracked his broken little body with immense pain.

Their joking demeanours fell then, and Thor sat up just as fast as he could, aiding Loki to do so as well. He rubbed him comfortingly on the back, his own chest rising and falling shakily with each nervous breath. God, this was absolutely terrifying.

When Loki finally fell silent, he was significantly paler, looking weak and almost lifeless. He fell into Thor then, head resting on his shoulder as he took slow, unsteady breaths.

They sat in silence for a long while, neither of them stepping up to break it.

It was too much. Too much for Thor, seeing him like this- Christ, he'd seen him die, twice, and that was somehow less painful. Because now... now, he was suffering. Really suffering. Sure, when Loki had been stabbed, he'd suffered. But it hadn't been for long. And he doubted it'd been anything compared to this. Loki had been in the icu for almost a week now, an oxygen mask fitting snuggly over his mouth the entire time. He'd no longer been coughing up blood by the time they fit the mask on him, which was a fairly good thing, but he still coughed, and each time he did it wracked his delicate little body and drained him completely. He slept far more than he should, and barely ate or drank, spending all of his time awake in pain.